THE MAJOR SCHOOLS OF PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT
1.
School
Early Naturalists
2.
Early Rationalists
3.
Athenian sophists
4.
Socrates and his
followers
Platonic Academy
Dates
Main Centres
600-400 Ionia (W.Turkey),
Abdera (N.Turkey)
510-430 Samos (off Turkey),
Elea (Italy)
450-400 Athens
Names
Thales, Heraclitus,
Democritus
Pythagoras,
Parmenides, Zeno
Protagoras,
Gorgias
Socrates
Key Problem
What is the true hidden nature of reality?
6.
Aristotle and the
Peripatetics
7.
Sceptics
350-250 Greece
Pyrrho
8.
Cynics
390-300 Greece
Diogenes
9.
Epicureans
310-250 The Garden in Athens
Epicurus,
Lucretius
If reason and appearances disagree, which one should we
believe?
If people make judgements, don’t morality and truth depend on
the observer, and therefore they don’t exist in reality?
Can we avoid the dangers of relativism, which seems to
undermine morality and make the pursuit of truth impossible?
Mustn’t we be committed to some more eternal and unchanging
ideals if we are going to be committed to goodness and truth?
Can’t we get a clear grip on knowledge and goodness, without
being committed to some unrealistic ideals which we can’t
experience?
Aren’t the doubts raised by philosophy so overwhelming and
contradictory that it makes all confident judgement impossible?
Once it becomes clear that morality and custom are invented by
humans, why should a rational person conform to them?
If the naturalists are right in their explanations of reality, what
implications has this for how we should live our lives?
10. Stoics
300-200 Stoa Poikile in Athens
Zeno of Citium,
Chrysippus
Can’t we find some balanced combination of the extreme
doctrines, and then deduce a correct way of living?
11. Neo-Platonists
230-350 Alexandria (Egypt)
Plotinus
How far can reason go in deducing the true nature of reality
behind the world of physical appearances?
What are the logical implications of Christ’s teachings, and are
they compatible with the teachings of the pagan philosophers?
5.
430-370 Athens
390-270 The Academy in
Plato
Athens
350-270 The Lyceum in Athens Aristotle
12. Christians
150-1400 N.Africa, Italy, France
Augustine,
Aquinas
13. Islamic Aristotelians
900-1100 Southern Spain
Averroes,
Avicenna
Locke, Berkeley,
Hume
14. Empiricists
1690-1770 Britain
15. Rationalists
1640-1800 Northern Europe
16. Idealists
1800-1900 Germany
17. Materialists
1600-1900 Northern Europe
Hobbes, Marx,
Darwin
18. Phenomenologists
1870-1930 France and Germany
Husserl
19. Existentialists
1850-1950 Northern Europe
20. Logical Analysts
1880-1980 Britain and America
Kierkegaard,
Nietzsche, Sartre
Frege, Russell,
Moore, Ayer
21. Pragmatists
1880-1980 America
22. Post-Modernists
1970-1990 France
Descartes,
Spinoza, Leibniz,
Kant
Hegel
Peirce, James,
Quine
Derrida
How far can the ideas of Aristotle be fitted into the teachings of
Mohammed in ‘The Koran’?
Given that sense experience is our only source of knowledge,
how far can knowledge extend, and what are the inevitable
limitations?
Given that reason is our only reliable source of knowledge, what
can we deduce about reality from pure thought, and how far can
we trust the appearances of sense experience?
If we take a commitment to rationalism seriously, what can we
deduce about the true nature and purposes of existence?
Giving that the only thing existing in our world is physical matter,
what can we deduce about our identity, and how individuals and
communities should live their lives?
If Kant has shown that knowledge depends on how our minds
work, can we sometimes still get at the truth?
If we accept our feeling of mental freedom as being true, how
should we exercise this responsibility in our lives?
If problems are broken down into steps, and attention paid to
precise logic and evidence (like science), surely we can reach
the truth?
Can we bring philosophy closer to how normal people acquire
knowledge and make decisions?
What follows from the fact that relativism is right, and truth and
morality change continually with culture and prejudice?
Possible Solution
One of the simple ingredients of the visible world, such as air, earth, fire or water. Or hidden
tiny simple units called ‘atoms’. We can explain things without reference to the gods.
Since reality is hidden, reason is more reliable. Maths is the key, or we can deduce the
existence of some very simple single pure reality.
Relativism is indeed true, so morality is invented for our own convenience (usually selfish), and
neither our sense nor our reason can be trusted
Although both senses and reason are riddled with doubts, right thinking will lead to truth, and
moral goodness will naturally follow from a perception of the truth.
Reason shows us that there must be a set of fixed and unchanging ideas, which not only
explain our highest ideals, but also the ordinary way we understand concepts and language
The essence of the things we experience are eternal and unchanging, so that we can come to
understand the truth, purpose and virtue of each thing by a careful combination of observation
and analysis
For every argument invented there seems to be a plausible counter-argument, so the best
solution is just to become very passive, which brings great peace of mind
We should abandon conventional rules and follow our own personal desires, though experience
shows that the best life is not self-indulgent, but very simple and restrained
The naturalists do seem to give the best explanations of existence, so we should accept their
reliance on the senses and their belief in atoms. The best life is therefore the one that brings
happiness for us as physical creatures, which is a life of cautious pleasure
Knowledge must come from a combination of senses and reason. We must accept the material
world, but it is designed and guided by gods. We must therefore live in accordance with nature,
and learn a quiet acceptance of even the cruellest natural events
We can now see that Plato’s forms are religious in character, and exist eternally in the mind of
God. The form of pure goodness sought by Plato is the same as God himself
Although Aristotle and Plato lacked Christian revelation, their ideas on metaphysics, politics,
virtue and logic fit well with Christianity, and greatly extend it as an intellectual theory. Christian
problems like free will and the existence of evil need the help of pagan philosophers
Islam is an all-embracing religion, which should try to incorporate the obvious wisdom gained by
the pagan philosophers into its own view of reality
We can see that science is the best route to truth, and philosophy shows us the limitations of
claims about perception, knowledge, truth, laws, causation, the future, morality and politics,
when they are built up purely from basic sense experiences
Reason tells us to mistrust our senses, but ideas and truth exist within the mind, and by careful
thought we can build a picture of reality, using reason, maths and intuition. Science has its
place within a larger spiritual and intellectual world.
If we follow our reason far enough, we can see all ideas (and even history itself) converging on
a single ideal and a single vision of the Truth, which exists in a spiritual world
If we start with our sense, we realise that nothing is sure except the physical world, so we must
assume that nothing else exists, either inside our own heads, or in any greater world of the
spirit. The laws of science are the laws of human life.
By analysing our own minds, we should be able to gradually strip away any distortions and
distinguish reality from appearances.
We must understand that we can not only escape social pressures, but also mental pressures.
We are responsible for everything we do and everything we are.
While a cautious approach makes big metaphysical claims look very doubtful, we can make
progress, especially in understanding the complex role which language and the nature of the
mind play in our own thinking
We actually accept things are true because they work in practice, and this rule can be the basis
for morality and politics, as well as scientific knowledge
Nothing is objectively true, and even language is beyond our control, so we must just ‘go with
the flow’, and not expect any kind of stable truth or science or morality or politics
Summary
Reality is
simple
Reality is in
ideas
Ideals are
false
Doubt leads
to goodness
Follow
ideals
Analyse the
essence of
each thing
Become
passive
Do your own
thing
Pursue quiet
pleasure
Show
restraint
Dream of the
high ideals
Follow
Christ
rationally
Islam is
rational
Be scientific
Follow
reason in
everything
Great ideas
are reality
Stick to what
is physical
Analyse the
mind
Live through
decisions
Analyse
problems
into parts
Follow what
succeeds
Relax